I'm Gonna Call It Home
by Bexish
Summary: Baraqua ended their relationship with Pawnee after their disastrous visit, so Leslie Knope found a new perfect sister city - Stars Hollow, Connecticut.
1. Leslie & Taylor

A/N: I got this idea a couple of days ago and was instantly obsessed with the idea. There's not much of a plot or true story line. It kind of just drifts and floats, much like its parent shows often do. I just wanted to do... something. Kinda crazy, but I hope you like it! Special love goes to emmaslovebug, who totally supported my idea and read each chapter along the way (and totally saved my butt when I lost the original document!)

* * *

"Ron!" Leslie Knope ran through the parks department, going as fast as her pencil skirt would allow. "Ron!" She flung open his office door so quickly that she almost worried about the structural integrity of the doorframe. There was no time for worrying, though. "I got some amazing news," she said, pacing in front of her boss. She was too keyed up to sit down. "What do you do in here all day when you're just sitting and not working?" she asked, noticing that he had absolutely nothing in front of him or on his computer. Then she shook her head. "Never mind. This is too important. Remember our sister city?"

Ron gave her a stern look. Then again, that was the only look he had. "Leslie, I told you to stop calling Caracas. They dropped us as their sister city over a year ago."

Leslie waved that off. "No, they don't return my calls anymore. But I've moved on from Caracas, because I've found our new sister city." She beamed at him, filled with pride at finding the perfect match for their city.

"We don't need a new sister city," Ron said immediately. He always said that. Sister cities meant actually collaborating and connecting with new people, which went against his policy of avoiding everyone. Leslie did not share his feelings there. Working with people was what she loved best, and if she could bring a little joy to another city through municipal sisterhood then that was what she wanted.

Though she was just springing it on Ron now, Leslie had been preparing for a very long time. After working with Ron for years, she knew how she had to approach new projects with him. "Sorry Ron, I went over your head on this one," she said, sliding a folder across the desk at him. "Tomorrow afternoon the whole parks department is going to be flying to Stars Hollow, Connecticut." Technically, Hartford. Stars Hollow was too small for an airport. "We're going to meet the people and see how their local government works and bond with our sister city."

"Who paid for these tickets?" Ron asked suspiciously, like maybe he thought Leslie had swiped his wallet when he wasn't looking.

"The city government," Leslie said. "This is an important trip and they've agreed to cover our expenses." Leslie did feel a little bad about that because of course they money came from the citizen's taxes, but having a sister city was invaluable. "Tomorrow night we'll check into The Dragonfly Inn for a week. We've got a lot going on while we're there, so get ready. It's going to be a wild ride."

Without waiting for more complaints from Ron, Leslie walked back to her own office and pulled out her to-do list. Tell Ron was checked off with a satisfied smile. Next up was Pack for trip. It was only three o'clock, but a trip this important called for a serious packing session. She and Ann had some major work to do.

"Listen, people!" Taylor Doose banged his gavel against his podium, trying to bring attention to that evening's town meeting. "I have some very important news to share with you all."

"Taylor, a sale on frozen vegetables at your store is not important news," Luke called from the back of the room.

"Yeah, and they're still overpriced!" Babette chimed in.

Taylor rolled his eyes. Luke only ever came to town meetings to stir up trouble. He never agreed with anything Taylor had to say. If Luke had his way, the whole town would be overrun with weeds and trash within the week and tourists would never visit again. And Babette was just Babette. She said whatever was on her mind, whether or not anyone liked it or wanted to hear it.

"While the frozen vegetables are on sale buy three, get one free this week that was not what I called this emergency meeting for." He paused for dramatic effect, not that anyone seemed to notice. "Tomorrow, we have visitors coming to town."

"Is it your family again?" Patty asked, looking over at Taylor from his chair next to him. "Taylor, the Doose family reunion is not a town event."

No one ever took him seriously, but he was used to it. The only way to really get past it was to just dive into whatever news he had before they could completely lose focus. "A government group from a city called Pawnee will be flying in tomorrow. They have chosen us as their new sister city."

"Oh, the Indiana group!" Lorelai chimed in. Taylor saw her nudge Sookie. "That's the group that booked a whole week at the inn," she said, not even bothering to hold her side conversation at a whisper.

"Yes, they will be staying at The Dragonfly," Taylor said. "This is a very exciting opportunity for us. As you all know, Stars Hollow has never had a sister city. This is our chance to really bond with another city."

"I don't get it," Babette said. "What's a sister city do? If we run out of money, will they give us more?"

"Or coffee?" Lorelai added.

Taylor sighed. "It is a bond between our two cities that cannot be broken," he said. "Tomorrow night there will be another town meeting with the delegates from Pawnee so that we can all get to know each other and discuss the agenda for the week they'll be in town."

Taylor thought he heard Luke mumble something about already having plans for the week, but he ignored him. It was the only way to ever move forward with a serious conversation. "Please, people, if you see our Pawnee friends in town tomorrow, be on your best behavior. Show them what Stars Hollow is all about."

"Wait, which do you want us to do? Be on our best behavior or show them what Stars Hollow is about?" Lorelai asked.

Taylor banged his gavel again. "Meeting adjourned," he said. He was going to need an aspirin before tomorrow's meeting.


	2. Ann & Lorelai

Ann looked around the plane nervously, hoping there was a flight attendant nearby who could refill her water. Having something to hold onto and drink helped her cope with the fact that she was thousands of feet off the ground in a giant metal box. She had never been a fan of flying, even relatively short distances. She knew that logically the odds of her getting in a car crash on her way home from work were much higher than being in a plane crash, but that wasn't especially comforting when she was in the air.

Next to her, April looked irritated with Ann's fidgeting. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked Ann. That was a good question. Ann had been wondering the same thing since Leslie had announced the trip. Even though she did work at city hall part time, she wasn't part of the parks department.

"Leslie wanted me to come," Ann said. As far as she could tell, that was the only reason she was there. She didn't expect to be a lot of help doing whatever it was the parks department was going to be doing. Honestly, Ann didn't even understand why the entire department had to visit this sister city. She didn't even understand what exactly a sister city was. All she knew was that a couple of years ago their sister city from Venezuela had visited and it had gone very badly, which meant this time Leslie was determined to make everything perfect.

Ann was used to her friend's overachieving, slightly manic nature when it came to projects like this. There was no doubt that Leslie would have everything under control. Even so, Ann knew this wasn't exactly going to be a vacation to a cute Connecticut town. Parks department or not, Ann was prepared to be Leslie's right-hand woman for the week. April didn't look like she cared about how helpful Ann was going to be, though. "Right, I forgot you were her wife," April said. "Sorry, Ben!" she called to his seat across the aisle. "Leslie's really in love with Ann!"

Ben looked a bit bewildered. He hadn't learned to deal with April quite as well as everyone else yet. Ann gave him a little wave and pulled a book out of her carry-on bag. She knew that the best way to deal with April was to just not engage with her at all. As much as she had tried in the past, April very publicly did not want to be her friend. Ann wasn't stupid, though. Despite their conflicts surrounding Andy in the past, she knew that April was a caring person underneath. Otherwise she probably wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in the parks department. Even though Ann wasn't officially part of the group, she liked that Leslie included her. For all of its occasional dysfunction, the parks department had a lot of great people with big hearts. She didn't really get the whole sister city concept, but she knew this Stars Hollow place was lucky.

"What if they're vegetarians?" Sookie cried, rushing out of the kitchen. Lorelai didn't even look up from the payroll form she was filling out.

"They're not vegetarians," she assured her friend. "I asked when they booked the rooms." The Dragonfly often had groups from different businesses staying with them, but Lorelai was particularly excited about this group. Despite not really knowing how having a sister city would affect Stars Hollow, the ripple of excitement that had been spreading through town was infectious. Taylor was losing his mind about the whole thing, which was always good fun. Lorelai couldn't wait for the next town meeting that night. Of course, she could only go if she ever managed to leave the inn.

She was trying to finish all the payroll stuff so her employees would actually continue working for her, but Sookie kept popping out of the kitchen every five minutes to discuss the menus for the week. Which was ridiculous, because Lorelai knew they would change at least three more times before Friday. "What if they're gluten free?" Sookie asked, still hovering in the doorway. "That's a thing now. I saw it on the internet."

"Again, they probably would've mentioned it when they were checking in," Lorelai said. "They're from the Midwest. I think Midwesterners eat anything." Which was anything but a slam, in Lorelai's opinion. They had catered to some seriously picky groups in the past, so it was refreshing that there weren't any dietary restrictions among this group. Not that Sookie actually believed her. "Hey, keep an eye out for Rory, will you?" Lorelai asked, hoping to distract Sookie from the imaginary culinary crisis she was facing. "She said she'd be here this afternoon."

Rory had moved to Boston a couple of years ago, which thankfully was close enough to hurry home for the big town meeting. She had put up something of a fight when Lorelai requested she stay home for the whole week, but it had been worth it. Lorelai knew that whenever Taylor got into a mood like this it meant big things were on the horizon. He hadn't said anything at the meeting the night before, but Lorelai sensed a festival in the air. There was nothing she loved more than a good festival, and she knew Rory felt the same way.

"Rory's not gluten free now, is she?" Sookie asked nervously.

Lorelai had to laugh at that. "Rory, who lives on mac and cheese and pizza? No, I don't think she's gone gluten free." She might live in a big city now, but she was a Stars Hollow girl at heart. And with this new group visiting and her daughter coming home, Lorelai thought that this could be one of the biggest weeks in recent Stars Hollow history. It was certainly big for The Dragonfly. Half their rooms booked for an entire week? Lorelai might actually be able to take a day off or two within the year.


	3. Michel & Andy

"What am I doing here?" Michel asked Lorelai quietly that night at the town meeting. The supposed guests of honor were nowhere to be seen, and Taylor hadn't made an appearance yet either. "You know I don't care about these ridiculous town events."

"You're the manager of The Dragonfly, Michel," Lorelai reminded him. "These people are going to be staying with us all week so you have to act like you care about them."

Michel wanted to point out that he already did an awful lot of acting around the guests at The Dragonfly, but he figured Lorelai wouldn't appreciate it. Despite how it may have seemed, he actually did like managing The Dragonfly. It was hardly the inn's fault that most of its guests were completely stupid. Especially in the fall. Anyone who called themselves a "leafer" probably had more than a few brain cells missing.

Before Michel could say anything to Lorelai, Taylor finally walked up to his little podium and called the meeting to order. Michel did not care for Taylor. He always acted like he had a lot more power than he probably did and was a little too self-important for Michel's liking. At least for once he didn't have to spend ten minutes trying to get everyone to stop talking and listen to him. The crowd quieted down considerably faster than usual. Michel didn't understand it—why did anyone care about this whole sister city nonsense? It was a symbolic label that meant nothing! No one in Stars Hollow seemed to get that.

Michel tried to listen to what Taylor was saying, but the man had a way of droning on that was just really difficult to pay attention to. After a couple minutes of blathering, he finally brought out a group of people that he introduced as the parks and recreation department from Pawnee, Indiana. "Isn't that where the supermarket gets their corn from?" Michel whispered to Lorelai, who shushed him.

For some reason, the group from Indiana actually looked excited to be there. At least, a few of them did. The blonde woman who got up to talk looked like she was going to explode with happiness, which was just mind-boggling. She was a bit like Taylor, in that she was far too enthusiastic about this whole sister city set-up. Michel tried to pay attention to her, too, but soon tuned out. Lorelai and Sookie would no doubt be talking about it the next day at work.

Instead he just focused on the rest of the people sitting down on the stage. So that was what an actual government department looked like. Michel would have thought they would all be dressed in drab clothes and look sad about their lives, but they actually seemed generally happy and reasonably fashionable as a group. Maybe Stars Hollow needed an actual governmental body instead of just Dictator Doose. Michel had always thought that well-dressed people would handle the town better than he did.

From the stage, Andy looked out at the citizens of Stars Hollow. They looked a lot nicer than the people in Pawnee. Whenever Pawnee had town hall meetings people just yelled and complained about things Andy wasn't even sure existed. A woman had once gotten mad about how dirty the bathrooms in one of the parks, and that particular park didn't even have bathrooms. No one was yelling at this meeting, though. Most of the people there actually looked interested in what Leslie was saying.

If Andy was going to listen to anyone give a speech, it would be Leslie. She was so passionate about the parks department that Andy felt proud of all of them, even though he wasn't part of the parks department himself. The weird thing was, half the people on the trip weren't in the parks department. He just worked at the shoeshine stand in the building, and Chris was the head of the healthcare department. Andy honestly wasn't sure what Ben did. It seemed to change a lot. And Tom came and went from the parks department so much that Andy didn't know if he actually worked there still or had moved on. Even so, it was nice that they all wanted to support Leslie and this new project.

"This is so cool," Andy whispered to April. At the podium, Leslie was talking about plans to throw a festival for the town so that they could get to know the citizens of Stars Hollow. If Andy knew one thing, it's that Leslie's festivals were legendary. At least, the harvest festival had been legendary. That had been a good day. It was when April had told him that she loved him. Andy wasn't sure what it was, but something about Leslie's events were always magical. Of course, she wasn't going to be the only one planning it. The weird guy in the cardigan was in charge, too.

"Babe, you should get slacks like that," April whispered back, nodding at Mr. Doose's pants. "I bet you'd spontaneously grow a really thick mustache and start complaining about kids being on the lawn."

Andy tried not to laugh out loud, which led to him letting out kind of a muffled snort. Mr. Doose shot him a look like he was ruining the meeting. "My bad," Andy whispered, waving at him. At the podium, Leslie was still talking. Andy had missed what she said, but the crowd had started chattering and shouting out suggestions for the festival. There probably weren't going to be any carnival rides or corn mazes in a town this size, but Andy bet these people knew how to throw a good party. This was the smallest town Andy had ever been to, and he knew that weird small towns knew how to have fun. They had to, because there was nothing else to do. They didn't even have a Taco Bell there. Going without Taco Bell for a week would be worth it though if this festival ended up as good as Leslie made it sound.


	4. Rory & Tom

"More coffee, Luke!" Rory said, hoping up her empty mug. Her mom and Sookie were part of the official planning committee of the Pawnee/Stars Hollow festival, and Rory had tagged along since she didn't have anything to do at home. Everyone from Pawnee was already seated around the tables that they had pushed together. All they were waiting for now was Taylor.

Luke didn't seem eager for Taylor to show up. Of course, he never was when Taylor was involved. "You actually came home for this madness?" he asked, doling out refills around the table.

Rory nodded happily. "I wouldn't miss it," she said. Of course, she did have her laptop with her so that she could get some work done whenever she had a spare minute. She had been working at the Boston Herald for almost three years now and loved it there, so she wasn't about to let her work slip now. "We're thinking about bringing Doggy Swami back for the festival."

"You guys do know that Paul Anka can't tell the future, right?" Luke asked.

"Neither can anyone else," Rory pointed out. "Even Sylvia Browne has messed up a time or two. So, what's your contribution to the festival going to be?"

Luke snorted. "I'll keep the diner open," he said. "You guys need anything else over here?"

One of the Pawnee group, a guy that Rory thought was named Ron, spoke up. "Yes, a plate of bacon," he said. "Or sausage, if you're out of bacon." He already had an empty plate in front of him that had once held a double helping of bacon and the largest pile of scrambled eggs Rory had seen. Rory was pretty sure she saw Luke visibly shudder as he walked away. She liked Ron, though. He was extremely no-nonsense.

Taylor showed up right after Luke delivered Ron's bacon. "Good, we're all here," Taylor said, taking a seat at the head of the table. "Now, we have a lot of work to do in very little time. I hope you're all prepared to work hard."

"Absolutely," said Leslie, nodding at Taylor. From what Rory could gather Ron was technically Leslie's boss, but Leslie was the one spearheading this whole event. "I've already made up several lists of ideas and loose plans, based around events we've done in the past." She passed Taylor a thick folder, which seemed to be color coded. Rory instantly liked her a lot, too. She could get on board with slightly anal-retentive organization.

Taylor flipped through the folder and cleared his throat. "Well, some of these ideas are slightly ambitious for the time frame and space we have. For instance, I don't know if we can get a petting zoo on such short notice."

"We've got a dog," Rory offered. "Everyone can take turns petting him."

"And giving him treats," Lorelai added. "He likes treats."

Taylor looked baffled, but he always did whenever Lorelai or Rory said something. Rory had missed that in Boston. It felt good to be home.

As the group discussed ideas, Tom stifled a yawn. He had slept terribly the night before. The décor at their inn was a little too country cute for his tastes, and he was pretty sure the sheets were 500 tread count max. He was also stuck sharing a room with Jerry, who suffered from sleep apnea and snored all night long. At least the coffee at the diner was good, even if the owner didn't know how to make a chai latte.

Leslie might have been excited about this new project, but Tom wasn't impressed by Stars Hollow so far. None of the public buildings seemed to have free Wi-Fi, and the diner owner had given him a dirty look when he pulled out his phone to check Twitter while they were waiting for the meeting to start. The guys from Venezuela had been kind of annoying, but at least they knew how to live over in Caracas. His room at the inn didn't even have a TV, much less one with a DVR so he could record all the shows he was missing.

"Hey, wait," Tom said, perking up at the mention of food for the festival. "Aren't there going to be any options that aren't deep-fried?" Thinking about all that oil made him feel like his face was about to break out. It wasn't that he loved eating salads with grilled chicken breast and no dressing, but to look good you had to feel good, and not all bloated with grease. "People like options."

Lorelai frowned. "Corn dogs and funnel cakes are options," she said. Next to her, Sookie rolled her eyes.

"Hey, if you can get them to eat real food, be my guest," she said. "Lorelai eats Pizza Rolls once a week."

"Yeah, town events here are all about eating yourself sick," Luke said sarcastically, walking over to table with a fresh pot of coffee. "Good try though, buddy." Luke clapped Tom on the shoulder. Tom appreciated the gesture, even if Luke was wearing a flannel shirt and a hat that was probably older than Tom was.

"Well, what about henna tattoos?" Tom suggested, since his food idea had tanked. He wasn't especially invested in the festival, but he wanted to chime in and help Leslie out. "White people love henna tattoos." Leslie shot him a warning look, but Donna laughed. He was glad he wasn't the only one who had noticed that approximately 98% of the people in Stars Hollow were white. It was the only place Tom had been that made Pawnee feel diverse.

Taylor frowned. "I don't know anyone who does those around here. We'll have to check Hartford." Tom would have been his next paycheck that this Taylor guy didn't even know what henna tattoos were. For a second Tom actually felt like he had imparted a bit of culture into Stars Hollow. He had basically already done his job.


	5. Luke & Chris

A/N: Credit for the line about the steak goes to emmaslovebug! She said it the other day and it was too good not to use.

* * *

Luke put on a new pot of coffee, knowing that as soon as it was done brewing it would probably be gone immediately. For two days now he'd had a dozen people camped out in his diner, taking up a third of his tables with all their files and papers and whatever else. Luke was used to the town losing its mind over planning festivals and events, but this time it was a little much.

The people from Pawnee were fine. Luke didn't have a problem with the people. But they were always _there_. He didn't understand why they couldn't work on things at the inn, since that's where they were staying. No, they met up at the diner each morning bright and early, ready to make plans for this ridiculous sister city festival. Every ten minutes or so someone would jump up and go outside to make a phone call. Luke appreciated that they weren't on their phones in the diner, but he imagined it had to be pretty annoying to be constantly in and out. At least they ordered food.

A lot of food, actually. The woman who was in charge had practically wiped him out of waffles, not to mention whipped cream. He was pretty sure that Lorelai had made a mental note and was going to eat her own waffles with whipped cream from now on. And one of the men in the group had ordered so much bacon and sausage each morning that Luke expected him drop from a heart attack right at the table. He hadn't yet, but Luke was considering pre-dialing 911 just in case. He had even ordered breakfast food for dinner the night before. He had actually first requested Luke make him a steak that was "so good he wanted to punch it in the face", but Luke didn't know what that meant, nor did he serve steak.

"Anyone need more coffee?" he asked the group once the pot had finished brewing. He re-filled Lorelai's cup out of habit first, then made his way around the table. Once he got to Leslie, she stopped him.

"Would you be willing to provide coffee for the festival?" she asked him.

"I'll make it worth your while," Lorelai added with a wink.

If Taylor had asked him, he would've rolled his eyes. He usually did. But for someone who didn't annoy him, it really didn't seem like a big deal. "Do people drink coffee outside in July in the afternoon?" he asked, wondering if anyone would even buy any if he sat out there.

"Oh, this is an all-day event," Taylor added. "We're opening up bright and early."

"At two in the morning," April added.

"Seven in the morning," Leslie said, like she was used to correcting April. "Weston's already said they would provide baked goods, but your coffee is better than theirs."

Luke hardly cared about being the best, but that was kind of nice to hear. "Yeah, that's fine," he said.

"Now, see how easy that was? Why are you never that cooperative with me?" Taylor griped.

It was time for Luke to start rolling his eyes again. "Let me know if you need anything else," he said, walking to the kitchen.

At the counter, Chris was trying to get a Wi-Fi signal on his laptop. It looked he was getting a faint signal from a store down the street, but when he tried to check his email the page wouldn't refresh. He moved down to the end of the counter and tried again, with little results.

"The signal doesn't reach this far," Luke told him, noticing him struggling. "Happens all the time."

Chris shut his laptop. "That's okay," he said. "I should have expected it. This is literally the most charming town I have been to." People always told him that he said that about a lot of things, but he had been all over Indiana and Stars Hollow really was the cutest little place. Besides Pawnee, of course.

Stars Hollow was like Pawnee in a lot of ways. Neither of them had macrobiotic grocery stores, for one. They had spent most of their time at the diner, too, which didn't have much in the way of health food. Chris had ordered a salad for breakfast that morning, because everything on the breakfast menu had more grease than he had eaten in the past ten years combined. The salad had been absolutely delicious, especially once Chris added his homemade dressing that he always traveled with.

The diner had a no cell phone policy, which Chris appreciated. People spent too much time staring at their phones. Whenever he was on his phone he made sure he was still looking at the people he was with. It was very difficult, and very rewarding. "I'm just going to run outside for two seconds and check my email on my phone," Chris told Luke. "When I come back I want to hear all about how you opened this amazing diner. I'm sure it's fascinating."

"Oh, it is," Luke said.

Chris smiled at him, not catching his sarcasm. Outside where the Wi-Fi reached, he had fourteen unread emails. It was a lot of work, being head of the health department. Chris loved it. He responded to every email with his away message. He didn't like emails going without responses, but this trip with the parks department was like a little vacation for him. It was time to spend with his very best friends in the world, away from all the pressures of his amazing job and the wonderful—but very needy—citizens of Pawnee.

When he went back inside, Luke was nowhere to be seen. He must have gone back in the kitchen or to the back. Chris took a seat back at the counter, waiting for him to come back. He trusted Leslie and Ron 100% to plan the sister city festival, so for how he wanted to get to know Stars Hollow. He had never met someone who wore a backwards hat all the time, so Luke Danes seemed like the perfect person to start with.


	6. April & Kirk

"This town is terrible," April complained to no one in particular later that afternoon. She was stretched out on the steps of the town's gazebo while the rest of the group walked around, marking off spots for booths. She knew that if she joined in she would just be following them around like a little sheep, so she had chosen to take a break instead.

There was no reason for April to be there. Technically she was Ron's assistant and technically Ron was the head of the department, but everyone knew this was really Leslie's thing. This was the kind of thing that Leslie did best. April knew that no matter what she did or didn't do, the event would be an unqualified success like every other event Leslie planned. People in Pawnee were unreasonable whackjobs all the time, but they loved a good town event. April assumed that the people of Stars Hollow were the same way.

Stars Hollow seemed like it was fresh out of a Disney movie. The grass was green and perfectly trimmed and there were little flowers planted along the storefronts in coordinating colors. And of course the town had a historic gazebo that everyone adored. There was no big town mystery, no creepy house where a witch lived, no shady kids tricking each other into buying oregano by saying it was weed. People probably loved their neighbors and watched their pets when they were out of town and baked them pies when they had new babies. There was no conflict, no intrigue. It didn't feel like real life.

"It's not so bad," someone said from behind April. She hadn't realized she wasn't alone. The new person hovered around behind her, looking kind of scared to get any closer. "I've lived here my whole life."

"There's no fence around the town. You don't have to stay here," April said. She probably would have left if she lived there.

He frowned. "Mother wouldn't like it if I left," he said. "She thinks I should stay in town so I can take care of her when she's old."

April looked at him. "How old are you?" she asked. He looked like he was at least 30, but it was honestly hard to tell.

He didn't answer. "It's not so bad," he said. "She invites us over for macaroni and cheese for dinner every Friday, unless she's meeting with her book club."

"Wow, that doesn't sound horrible at all," April said. Somehow the guy completely missed the fact that her voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

"It used to be better before she started using low-fat cheese," he said.

"I wasn't…" April sighed. This conversation was pointless. "I need to get back to my group." She got up and walked over to where Andy was pacing off a spot in the grass.

"People here are weird," she complained, leaning her head against his shoulder. "When can we go home?"

From the gazebo, Kirk watched as Taylor gave directions to a couple of people from Pawnee. Kirk had tried to offer himself up as Taylor's assistant for the festival, but he had never responded to his emails. He loved doing things for the town, but Taylor never seemed to want his help. He didn't usually want anyone's help, but he especially never wanted Kirk's help.

Unless it involved doing something like jumping out of a plane for his store's grand opening, or crawling into small places to hide Easter eggs. For some reason no one else in town ever seemed willing to do those things.

Kirk tried not to be too disappointed by not having anything to do for the festival. He was a very busy person, after all. He had bought the beauty shop in town when it was about to close the year before and life as a business owner was very fulfilling. Though it was surprising how much easier it was to just have one job as opposed to several at a time. He had actually started sleeping seven hours a night instead of four or five. It had been disorienting at first, but he had gotten used to it. Sleeping more meant that he had night terrors less often, which he thought Lulu appreciated.

He didn't know what being married was like for other people, but he liked it a lot. In some ways it wasn't that different than living with his mom. He and Lulu took turns cleaning and doing the dishes and cleaning the cat's litter box. Now that it was summer, she was helping out at the beauty shop too. They worked together well.

That reminded Kirk of something. "Taylor!" he called, hurrying over to him. "Lulu had an idea she wanted me to run by you. For the past few months we've been making a collection of cat collars, and she wanted to know if we could sell some at the festival. Babette has already ordered a few from us and she thinks they would sell very well. Cats love them. At least, Cat Lulu does."

Taylor sighed. "I don't know that this is going to be the place for that, Kirk. This festival is a way for our Pawnee friends to celebrate with the people of Stars Hollow. We don't want to try to sell our guests things."

"We always sell things at festivals," Kirk said. "At the Firelight Festival the cotton candy woman got mad at me for trying to haggle."

"This is a celebration, not a craft fair," Taylor said. When Kirk just kept looking at him, he sighed. "We will discuss this later," he said finally.

Kirk shrugged. That was good enough for him for now. Lulu would be glad if they could sell them at the festival, although their Etsy shop was doing very well regardless. He walked back over to the girl he had been talking to before. She looked like a cat person.

"Would you buy a one-of-a-kind cat collar if you saw a booth at a festival?" he asked.

"We have a dog," she said, looking at him like she was mad about something.

So much for that. You thought you knew something about a person and it turned out they were just the opposite.


	7. Sookie & Ben

The night before the festival was an insane one, which suited Sookie just fine. With three kids, she was used to chaos and doing things at the last minute. Heck, that's what she had been her whole career as a chef. It wasn't as fun when she couldn't change her mind at the last minute when inspiration struck.

For the festival, she had wanted to make food that best represented Stars Hollow and Pawnee. The problem was, there wasn't a particular food that was especially popular in Stars Hollow. Everybody went to Luke's of course, and Al's chicken chow mein sandwich had tried to make a comeback a few times, but nothing else really gave her a Stars Hollow feeling. They were going to have all the usual carnival suspects, so Sookie wanted to do something different and she just didn't know what.

"Pasta salad!" she exclaimed while looking in the inn's fridge. Then she shook her head. "Pasta salad," she said dismissively. "No one eats pasta salad anymore." She wasn't sure why that was, but the last few times she'd had pasta salad available as a side dish at the inn nobody ordered it. "Ooh, kale!" she yelled again, finding a fresh bunch of it in the fridge. It looked good to her, but she still frowned. Other than the ultra-healthy mega man that was with the Pawnee group, she doubted that anyone would eat kale.

At least the Pawnee options were easy. According to Leslie, fast food ruled the land in Pawnee. It wasn't especially exciting, but Sookie was going to have a variety of cheeseburgers and fries available. Luke made the best burgers in town, but he was already covering part of breakfast so she didn't feel like she could ask him to collaborate on this one. She thought she could handle the Pawnee half of the menu well enough. But nothing screamed Stars Hollow.

Every dish Sookie thought of just reminded her of a specific person. Things like taquitos and macaroni and cheese and pizza were all Lorelai, while healthier things reminded her of Luke or her own family. For some reason, sandwiches reminded her of Kirk. It was hard to boil down the essence of Stars Hollow into just one dish or two. The town had such a long history and so many different people that to truly incorporate the feeling of Stars Hollow she would have to make an entire buffet.

If she had the time, she would do it. Stars Hollow might be a little nutty, but it was her home. When she first moved to town to work at the inn she had never imagined staying there for the rest of her life, but she had built her family there. They had all grown roots in the town, and Sookie had no plans to dig them up. What kind of dish represented the home that all the citizens had made there?

At least no matter what Sookie made, there would be Founders' punch. If anything said Stars Hollow, it was that punch.

Even though Leslie had already fallen asleep after a long day of setting up for the festival, Ben was still awake. It was hard to fall asleep, knowing tomorrow was going to be such a big day for Leslie and for the town. Ben didn't especially love or hate Stars Hollow, but he knew that Leslie already felt a deep bond with the people there. After all, they were sister cities now. In Leslie's book, that was sacrosanct.

In general, Ben didn't tend to feel very strongly about things. For so much of his adult life he had traveled from city to city, town to town trying to clean up things as he went. He was rarely in one city long enough to make friends or get a lasting impression of the place, so everything tended to blur together after a while. He spent so much time meeting new people who didn't know or care who he was that the real Ben Wyatt had gotten kind of lost along the way.

And then he had moved to Pawnee and met Leslie. Leslie, who was nothing but strong feelings and passions. Being around her had taught him who he was again. Her slightly obsessive nature had rubbed off on him, and he had started to remember all the things that he had loved. Choosing to stay in Pawnee had been the best decision he had ever made. It was kind of like Dorothy arriving in Oz, where suddenly everything had color again. At first he had made the mistake of assuming Pawnee was like everywhere else, but the people there really set it apart.

If Leslie thought that Stars Hollow was the same way, then he was all too happy to tag along on the trip and support her. When Leslie believed in something, she was going to find a way to make that happen. Ben loved that about her. She was set on making Pawnee a better place, and now she wanted Stars Hollow along for the ride. Ben knew if this festival went well Leslie would be fueled by that success for a long time to come. He knew that as soon as their plane touched back down in Pawnee that she would be filled with a million ideas on how to make Pawnee a better place. And even though Pawnee had its share of problems, he knew that she would do her damnedest to enact every one.

So Ben was content to stay awake for a little while, even though he knew he would be tired when Leslie woke up at five in the morning to finish preparing for the festival. Sometimes it was nice to take the time to reflect on his life and how far he had come since arriving in Pawnee. As crazy as it would have seemed to him when he first arrived in town, now he could actually see himself spending the rest of his life there if it happened that way. As he laid there looking at the ceiling, he wondered if anyone was awake in Stars Hollow feeling the same way.


	8. Ron & Gypsy

Ron was in food heaven. He had been disappointed all week by the lack of good meat in Stars Hollow, but the spread at the sister cities festival more than made up for it. The chef from the inn had been serving burgers all day, so the air smelled enticingly like grilled meat. There was also a booth serving chili dogs and corn dogs, so all was good with him. Of course, he did get an order of bacon at the diner to add to his cheeseburger. It was damn good bacon.

"What do you think?" Leslie asked him that afternoon. He was on his third chili dog, while Leslie was working on a huge stick of cotton candy. "Pretty good, huh?"

Ron nodded. "You did good, Leslie. It looks like people are having fun." It seemed like the parks department was fitting in well, too. Toward the edge of the square Ron saw April and Andy playing with Lorelai's dog while a few feet away Ann was laughing with Rory about something. Even the surly manager of the inn was deep in conversation with Donna.

Leslie took a big bite of her cotton candy. "I should go talk to Rory and see how things are going. She's going to write an article for the paper about the event for us. I'm not letting Shawna Malway-Tweep try to take this one."

Ron didn't see how she could since Shawna wasn't even there, but he didn't question it. He just enjoyed his chili dog and watched the event unfold. It was kind of fun to watch the uptight town selectman run around like he was on fire, constantly checking on everything. He might have been in charge of the town, but Ron just couldn't take him seriously. Anyone who was that hung up on municipal codes deserved to run around a little bit. Nobody in Pawnee spent their days hand-holding all the citizens and everyone there had turned out just fine. Everyone except the people that wanted to complain to Ron about things, anyway.

He wasn't going to spend the festival thinking about all the things that were wrong with the way Taylor ran the town, though. They had done their work and now it was time to enjoy it. Of course, Leslie could never relax and just enjoy anything. She was already talking about how the festival should be an annual event and next year they should host it in Pawnee. She probably already had a notebook full of ideas for the next year.

When Leslie had proposed the idea of finding a new sister city a year ago, Ron had balked at the idea. Pawnee didn't need another city's name attached to it for now reason. Stars Hollow wasn't that bad, though. They didn't make a good steak, but they made good people. He didn't give a damn about planning another event, but he wouldn't mind if Leslie wanted to get together with some of the people again. If Luke could bring some of his bacon, Ron would be in heaven.

For every town event for the past ten years, Gypsy had run a lemonade booth. No one expected her to be much in the kitchen, being a mechanic and all, but she squeezed every damn lemon by hand and had tried every variation over the years. No one in town would ever buy a strawberry basil lemonade, but Gypsy could make a delicious batch of it if the situation arose. It was just her thing. Her mom had taught her how to make lemonade when she was a little girl living in Texas and now every time she did, she thought of her. If she could share the simple pleasure of homemade lemonade with the town, then that's what she would do.

In general, Gypsy tried to do her best by the town. She might not have always been the first to volunteer for whatever scheme Taylor had cooked up, but she tried to be there. She signed up to participate in fundraisers, had helped Taylor put together that ridiculous museum years ago and mowed lawns for elderly neighbors in the summer. Gypsy wasn't a big joiner, but the town had done a lot for her years ago when she decided she wanted to open up a garage.

Stars Hollow was a town where a lot of people were born and raised. A lot of people didn't just end up there, but Gypsy had. She had been raised by her grandmother and mom, and after both have them had died by the time she was 22 she decided she had to get out of Texas. There had been too many memories in her hometown that haunted her without her family around. Without a college degree, the best she could figure was working in a garage somewhere. Traveling on the east coast had led her across Hewes' Brothers in Stars Hollow, who had given her a job without a second thought.

Their generosity had astounded her, even more so when they had left her the garage after retiring. The generosity of the whole town was even more than Gypsy could have hoped for. Even though the atmosphere was entirely different, the little town kind of reminded her of home. People looked out for each other there. Even if people were occasionally too gossipy or hung up on silly town rules, they were genuine people. And as she watched the carnival, she could tell that the people from Pawnee were, too.

"Back again?" she asked Andy as he came up to her booth for the third time that evening. "Usually the adults go for the punch."

Andy shrugged. "I like lemonade," he said. "My mom always used to make lemonade for our birthday parties when we were kids." He took the cup Gypsy handed him. "This is better, though."

That was all Gypsy had wanted. To give Stars Hollow back a little bit of their childhoods. With all the games and snacks at the festival they should have already felt like kids again, but she was glad that her lemonade could give at least one person that.


	9. Patty & Donna

Founders' Day Punch. Miss Patty had been making it for as long as she could remember, and nobody seemed to notice that the recipe was never the same. Gypsy had boasted about her fresh homemade lemonade before, but people seemed to love Patty's punch no matter what she put in it. Even if it wasn't as good as the time before, no one remembered after finishing a cup of it anyway.

This year the punch was rum-based, thanks to an extra bottle she had found in the back of her cupboard. The secret was covering up the alcohol taste with the most sugary fruit punch she could make. She would be the first to admit that the punch was actually pretty gross, but there was nothing like alcohol to liven up a party. Patty had seen an awful lot of people get slobbering drunk off the punch over the years, which was always kind of fun. People were more honest when they were wasted.

Two cups of her punch would knock an honest man flat on his back, and the Pawnee group was mostly no different. Donna could hold her own, though. She had been sipping on the punch all evening and seemed no worse for the wear. Patty kept an eye on her, interested in how someone like her had come to work for a local government. She reminded Patty a lot of herself. Patty loved Stars Hollow, but she'd had her larger-than-life days before she settled down to open the dance studio.

Another one who was keeping it together surprisingly well was April. She was just a girl, but she hadn't even winced when she had taken a drink of the punch. Patty was watching her laughing with her husband when Lorelai came up to her. "What a night, huh?" she asked. Unlike some of the others, Lorelai was smart enough to avoid the punch. "I'm not sure how the End of Summer Madness festival is going to live up to this in a couple of months. Did you hear that Leslie tried to set up a firework display?"

Patty snorted. "With Taylor in charge? Did someone tell her 'honey, no'?"

"Oh, Taylor did," Lorelai said. "She's going to be handing out sparklers in about half an hour though. Don't tell Taylor."

Patty winked at her. "Taylor who? It's already past his bedtime for the Taylor Doose I know."

Lorelai laughed. "He's still out there somewhere, though. I heard him trying to track down Leslie not that long ago. Apparently parts of this have not been up to code."

"Someone needs to take Taylor a cup of punch," Patty said. "See if you can sneak some into his water for me, will you?"

"Oh, he'll never notice that," Lorelai said. "You know, sometimes I forget how great this town is but these festivals always remind me."

"Watch out, you're getting sappy," Patty warned her. She ladled up a drink. "Here, drink more punch."

Drinking her own cup of punch, Donna wandered throughout the town square. She had already gotten a henna tattoo and tried some of the foods that Sookie had made, so she was feeling like part of the festival. Big town events weren't usually her thing. Given the choice, she preferred dark night clubs filled with attractive men. She owned part of the Snakehole Lounge, after all. Still, there was something kind of nice about the whole town coming together to celebrate.

Stars Hollow wasn't the most fascinating town Donna had been to. The people weren't especially fashionable, they had no clubs or shopping to speak of and she'd had to put a stop to her juice cleanse once she got to town. It was hard to ignore the fact that Stars Hollow felt like a real home, though. It was like walking into someone's house and instantly being offered a cold drink and a comfy place to sit. The people there were welcoming, even if Donna didn't have much in common with them.

"This is some party, Knope," Donna said as she passed Leslie on the way to get more punch. Leslie shot her a big thumbs up, but Donna could tell that she was on her way somewhere and had no time to stop. Leslie always worked a hundred times harder than she did, and it definitely showed. Donna knew she could never put together a festival like this. She could probably tell people to show up at the Snakehole at a certain time, but this was something else.

At the punch table, Patty was still serving drinks from a seemingly bottomless punch bowl. "You could probably sell this stuff, you know," Donna told her as she got to the front of the line. "You should see some of the stuff Tom's come up with. This knocks it out of the park."

"Oh honey, I wouldn't make someone pay for this in a million years," Patty said. "I just throw all my leftovers together and call it a day. This batch might actually have moonshine in it."

Donna had to admire anyone who just had moonshine lying around as a "leftover". "If Knope's crazy plan to host this thing in Pawnee next year actually comes together, you and I will have to go to the Snakehole. There might still be some Snakejuice hiding somewhere. The FDA might not approve, but it's not bad."

"I haven't been to a club in years," Patty said, almost wistfully. "If your boss can pull it off, consider it a date."

Donna raised her glass in a toast. "Trust me, if Leslie wants to do something, she's going to do it." Looking around the town square, she shook her head. "I think these events are going to be happening for a long time." No matter the cost or the logistics of half a town flying from one state to another, Donna knew that this sister cities thing was important to Leslie. After visiting Stars Hollow, she had to conclude that it wasn't a bad idea at all.


	10. Jerry & Babette

All good things had to come to an end eventually, and the sister cities festival was no different. After everything had been cleaned up and packed away, the parks and rec department retreated to their rooms to pack up for their trip home. Jerry had enjoyed their week in Stars Hollow, but he was glad to be heading home, too. The people in Stars Hollow had been amazingly welcoming, but he had a lot to miss in Pawnee.

It had been surprisingly, actually, how nice the people in Stars Hollow had been. Back home, everyone knew Jerry as something of a klutz who had gotten himself into some ridiculous situations in the past. But in Stars Hollow, no one knew that. They were just as nice to him as they were to Tom or Andy, both of whom were much "cooler" than Jerry could ever hope to be. At first Jerry had enjoyed the break from his co-workers' teasing, but after a couple of days he had actually begun to miss it. It might have seemed harsh to other people, but Jerry knew that they cared.

That was one thing people in Pawnee and Stars Hollow had in common. Both towns were full of caring people. Sometimes they were caring to the point of being intrusive, but they were caring nonetheless. Jerry hadn't visited a lot of other places, but he knew that it was rare to find a group of people who were kind and genuine. He had that back in Pawnee and he knew that if he ever came back to Stars Hollow he would have that there, too.

"Could I get another cup of decaf?" he asked Luke the morning before their flight. As had become their routine over the week, they were back at the diner for breakfast. Luke did a good breakfast, but Jerry missed cooking breakfast for his family. He would be glad to be back home to cook them up a real feast the next morning.

Luke poured him a cup and added a donut along with it. "On the house," he said. "You were probably the least annoying of the bunch this week."

"Wow, thanks," Jerry said, touched. He had never exactly been called annoying before, but no one had ever called him the _least_ annoying either. "This is a great place," he commented, taking a bite of the donut. Almost immediately he accidentally inhaled a sprinkle and had to take a big gulp of coffee to stop coughing. He waited for Luke to start laughing or make a joke about how hard eating was, but it never came. If Jerry was going to be around longer, he thought that Luke could be a pretty good friend. Leslie seemed to know everything about the people in Stars Hollow already. Once they got home, he would have to ask her for Luke's address so he could send them a Gergich family Christmas card when the time came.

On Jerry's way back his table, Babette reached out and stopped him. "Sit with us a minute, sugar," she said, offering him the empty seat across from Morey. "We've hardly talked for a minute all week." She had been wanting to talk to everyone from Pawnee, but some people were harder to carve out time with than others. On their tour of the town she had gotten Andy and April to come in for hot chocolate and a visit with her cats, but a lot of them had been hard at work all week.

Jerry had been on her radar from the minute she saw the group from Pawnee. He didn't seem to do much with the group, but just kind of followed everyone else around. Babette had kind of wondered why he was there with them. "What do you do in the parks department?" she asked him.

"Oh, anything people need me to," Jerry said. "I'm just happy to help."

Babette liked that. People who were willing to pitch in where they were needed were good people. Babette would have guessed that if Jerry lived in Stars Hollow he would have been one of the first to offer newcomers a welcome basket. "We could always use more people like that around here," she said. "This is a great town."

Jerry laughed. "It's wonderful, but my family's back in Pawnee. We've lived there our whole lives."

Babette nodded. "I hear ya. I've lived here my whole life. I was born right in the house I live in now, can you believe it? You couldn't pay me to leave this place." She took a sip of her coffee and squeeze Morey's hand. "I've got everything I need right here," she said. Morey quietly murmured in agreement.

Jerry smiled at them. "I hope my wife and I look as happy as the two of you do," he said.

"When you've been married as long as we have, there's no sense in being anything but happy," Babette said. "We haven't got the time left to be unhappy. You remember that when you get home."

"Oh, I will," Jerry said seriously. "And I'll tell my daughters, too."

"You've got kids!" Babette said excitedly. "I bet they're beautiful."

"They are," Jerry said fondly. "We've got Millicent, Miriam and Gladys."

Babette held a hand to her heart. "Great names," she said. "Morey and I were never blessed with kids, but we've had more cats than I can count. I guess in a way, this town is kind of my baby." Babette looked out the window at the now-empty town square. It was back to being grass and the gazebo, but she could see the festivities of the night before in her head. It wasn't so much about what the town square looked like, but all the memories she had made there. Decades before, she and Morey had gotten married in that very gazebo. No matter what happened, she would never forget the magic of Stars Hollow.

"Well, look after it," Jerry said, getting up from the table as he noticed that his group was about to head out. "You've got a great place here."


	11. Jean-Ralphio & Jess

A/N: Bonus chapter! Neither of these guys fit into the actual story but I couldn't resist these babes.

* * *

"What is up, my Stars Hizzle brothers?" Jean-Ralphio looked at the table to closest to the door, where two women were having breakfast. "And my Stars Hizzle sisters," he added, tipping an imaginary hat toward them. If he was going to be staying here for a while, he had to get in with the townies.

Pawnee had done him wrong too many times. Or rather, he had done Pawnee wrong too many times, according to the local police department. When rumors started that there was a warrant floating around for his arrest, Jean-Ralphio had packed up his favorite Tumi duffle bag and bounced. He had considered Brazil because the ladies were too beautiful for him and he kind of liked that, but remembered that Tom had just gotten back from a tiny Connecticut town. Figuring nobody would bother to follow him to Connecticut, he hopped on a plane and said peace out, Pawnee.

He had forgotten to tell his sister he was leaving. That had occurred to him in the cab to Stars Hollow. He owed her a considerable amount of money though, so he was hoping she wouldn't notice.

The guy at the counter looked exactly like Jean-Ralphio imagined he would if his ancestors were chiseled Italians instead of boyishly charming Jews. He was reading a book, which was the kind of quaint thing Jean-Ralphio assumed small town people did. He must have been into it, because he practically jumped in the air when Jean-Ralphio slid onto a stool across from him.

"Your hair is rad-i-cal," Jean-Ralphio, emphasizing the last word in the hopes that it would catch on here. He thought it had been hibernating for long enough that he could successfully bring back its popularity. "Is that Bumble and Bumble gel? Because that stuff is bitchin' as hell." He hadn't even meant to say bitchin' but it was just a throwback kind of day.

The guy at the counter did not seem to process Jean-Ralphio's compliment quite like he had thought he would. "It's not," he said, sighing as he slipped a piece of paper in his book. "You want to order anything?"

"A macchiato with an extra shot of espresso. My plane ride in was killer." He had been stuck next to a woman who was a hard nine, but also unfortunately a total killjoy who refused to talk to him.

The guy at the counter opened his book back up. "Nope," he said, not even bothering to look up. "Come back when you can learn to read the menu."

Jean-Ralphio hadn't read a menu in years. If he went somewhere that didn't have exactly what he wanted he got the hell out of there and found a cooler place. Tom had already warned him that Stars Hollow didn't have a Starbucks, though. "A regular coffee then," Jean-Ralphio said, almost choking on the words. He didn't even remember what black coffee tasted like. "So, what's the 411 on the ladies in this town?"

Jess poured the guy a cup of coffee, rolling his eyes while his back was turned. This guy was obviously new to Stars Hollow and in about ten minutes he would realize that he didn't belong there. Since he would inevitably be back on a plane to wherever he came from by the morning, Jess decided to humor him. "They're taken," he said.

Jean-Ralphio frowned. "All of them? That seems impossible."

"Yeah," Jess said vaguely, distracted by his hair. It was pushed back a lot like his, only it was longer and curlier. Jess made a mental note to never let his hair get longer in case he ended up looking like that guy. Despite his over the top appearance, Jess was still mildly interested in the new guy. People just didn't end up in Stars Hollow unless something had happened. Jess knew that better than anybody, after a decade of coming and going from the town. "What'd you do to end up here?" he asked, thinking about all the supposed reasons his mom had sent him there years ago.

He instantly looked suspicious. "What did you hear?" he whispered, looking around the diner. "They followed me here, didn't they? Are they waiting with the cop car outside?" He peered nervously out the window. "If they're out there, you're going to have to let me sit behind the counter until they leave. Because they don't let you have concealer in jail."

Jess had never met a guy who actually admitted to wearing makeup. It was hard to believe this guy was an actual person. "No one's allowed behind the counter," he said, realizing how much like Luke he sounded. "And I don't think Stars Hollow even has cop cars."

Jean-Ralphio didn't seem to hear him. "You run one little insurance scam and they act like it's a crime," he muttered, holding his coffee cup up to his face like he was trying to hide behind it.

It didn't seem worth it to point out that insurance scams were indeed crimes. "If you're trying to hide, you might want to pick a town with more than a hundred people," Jess suggested. According to the town sign the population was like 9,000 or something but Jess was pretty sure he only saw the same dozen people over and over.

"My friend said no one would bother looking here," Jean-Ralphio said. Jess had to agree with him on that one. No one had even heard to Stars Hollow to actually check up on.

Still, this guy was going to draw a lot of attention to himself around here. "Trust me, I wouldn't stay here," Jess said. He looked the guy over, wondering what he could say to convince him that he was right. "We don't even have a mall." His clothes looked expensive, which was hardly the norm in Stars Hollow.

That seemed to do it. The guy actually went pale and drained the rest of his coffee. "I've got to think about some things," he said, slipping off his stool. He headed to the door looking like he was in a daze, mumbling to himself on the way out.

Still not the strangest thing Jess had seen in Stars Hollow.


End file.
